HMS Phoenix (1783)

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Career (UK) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Phoenix
Builder: Parsons, Bursledon
Launched: 15 July 1783
Fate: Wrecked on 20 February 1816
General characteristics
Class and type: Perseverance-class fifth rate
Tons burthen: 884 tons
Length: 137 ft (42 m)
Beam: 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Armament: 36 guns of various weights of shot
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Phoenix.

HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class Fifth Rate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.

Active service

She was commissioned in October 1787 under Captain John W. Payne, and paid off in December. Recommissioned in October 1788, she sailed for the East Indies in November under Captain George A. Byron.

East Indies

In the beginning of November 1791, Minerva, Commodore William Cornwallis, accompanied by the Phoenix, Captain Sir Richard Strachan, and Perseverance, Captain Isaac Smith, was in the road at Tellicherry, a fort and anchorage situated a few leagues to the south of Mangalore. Phoenix was ordered to stop and search the French frigate Résolue, which was escorting a number of merchant ships believed to be carrying military supplies to support Tippu Sultan. The Résolue resisted Phoenix and a brief fight ensued before the Résolue struck her colours. Résolue had 25 men killed and 40 wounded; Phoenix had six men killed and 11 wounded. There was no contraband on the French vessels. The French captain insisted on considering his ship as a British prize, so Cornwallis ordered Strachan to tow her into Mahé and return her to the French commodore. Phoenix came home in August 1793.[1]

North Sea

She was commissioned in October 1795 under Captain Lawrence Halstead, at first attached to the fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, operating in the North Sea.[2] In May 1796 news reached Duncan that a Dutch squadron consisting of the 36-gun Argo and three brigs and a cutter had departed Flickerve, Norway, bound for the Texel.[3] Duncan despatched a squadron of his own to intercept them, consisting of Phoenix, the 50-gun Leopard, the 28-gun Pegasus and the brig-sloop Sylph, and under the overall command of Halsted.[3][4] The British intercepted the Dutch at 5am in the morning of 12 May, with Phoenix and Leopard chasing Argo, while Pegasus and Sylph made after the brigs.[3][5] Leopard eventually fell some way behind, and consequently it was Phoenix alone which brought Argo to action at 8am.[3] After twenty minutes of fighting Halsted forced Argo to strike her colours. The Phoenix carried eight 32-pounder carronades in lieu of her lighter guns in the upper works as well as her main battery of 26 18-pounders, and a crew of 271 men and boys. The only damage she sustained was in her rigging and sails, and her only loss was one man killed and three wounded. The Argo was armed with 26 long 12-pounders, six long 6-pounders, and four brass 24-pounder carronades, with a crew of 237 men and boys, and thus was substantially out-gunned. She lost six men killed and 28 wounded.[6] Meanwhile Pegasus and Sylph forced two of the brigs aground and took the small vessel accompanying the Dutch, which turned out to be a former British vessel, Duke of York.[7] They then captured the third brig, the 16-gun Mercury.[4] The Argo and Mercury were both added to the Royal Navy, the Argo becoming HMS Janus while Mercury became Hermes.[7]

After this success Halsted was assigned to operate off the Irish coast. On 18 May 1797 Phoenix captured the 4-gun French privateer Espiègle off Waterford. On 24 Apr 1798 Phoenix captured the 1-gun French privateer Brave. Then one month later, on 31 May, she captured the 20-gun French privateer Caroline. On 23 Jan 1799 Phoenix captured the 20-gun French privateer Foudroyant on the Irish station. On 5 April she captured the French privateer Coureur.[8]

Mediterranean

On 11 Feb 1800 Phoenix and the fireship Incendiary captured the French privateer Éole off Cape Spartel. On 3 June she and Port Mahon captured the 12-gun Albanaise. Two weeks later Phoenix took the 4-gun Revanche near Hieres Island in the Mediterranean. However, Revanche capsized the next day.[9] On 16 September Phoenix captured the 4-gun Spanish schooner Felix, laden with merchandise and bound from Corunna to Vera Cruz. Then on 10 November she captured the French privateer General Melartique.

In 1801 Phoenix was involved in supporting operations for the British expedition to Egypt. Circa 2 May sailed from off Porto-Ferrajo, resulting in a blockade by the French, which was raised on 1 Aug by the arrival of Sir John Borlase Warren with his squadron.

On 3 Aug 1801 the frigates Phoenix, Pomone, and Pearl captured the Venetian-built but French 44-gun frigate Carrère and her crew of 356 men at the mouth of Elbe after a short fight. She was escorting a small convoy from Porto Ercole to Porto Longone. Pomone lost two men dead, a third died of wounds shortly thereafter, and three wounded.[10] The Royal Navy took her in as Carrere, but rated as an 18-pounder frigate of 36 guns.[11] Frederick Lewis Maitland was her first captain. Almost a month later, on 2 September, Phoenix, Pomone, and Minerve re-captured the frigate Success, a former British 32-gun Sixth Rate frigate and destroyed the 46-gun French frigate Bravoure. (The French had captured Success in February, off Toulon.)

File:Phoenix and Didon.jpg
The Engagement between H.M.S. Phoenix and the French Frigate Didon, 10 August 1805, Thomas Luny, 1829, Ashmolean Museum

Thomas Baker took command of Phoenix on 28 April 1803.[8][12] He was assigned to the Channel Fleet under Admiral William Cornwallis, and on 10 August 1805 he came across the 40-gun French frigate Didon off Cape Finisterre.[8][13] Prior to the sighting the Phoenix had intercepted an American merchant, enroute from Bordeaux to the United States. The American master had been invited onto the Phoenix, sold the British some of his cargo of wine, and had toured the Phoenix before being allowed to continue on his way.[14] The Phoenix had at this time been altered to resemble from a distance a large sloop-of-war. The Didon, which was carrying despatches instructing Rear-Admiral Allemand's five ships of the line to unite with the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, intercepted the American merchant and from him received news that a 20-gun British frigate was at sea and might be foolish enough to attack the Didon.[14] The Didon's commander, Captain Milius, decided to await the arrival of the British ship, and take her as a prize. The Phoenix was therefore able to approach and engage the Didon before the French realised that she was a larger frigate than they had anticipated.[14] After a sharp action lasting several hours, with Baker on one occasion having his hat shot off his head, the French surrendered.[15] The Phoenix had 12 killed and 28 wounded; the French sustained losses of 27 killed and 44 wounded.[15] By intercepting the ship carrying the despatches for Allemand, Baker had unwittingly played a role in bringing about the battle of Trafalgar, but he was to play an even greater role a few days later, possibly even staving off an invasion of England.[13]

File:HMS Phoenix captures Didon.jpg
The battle-scarred HMS Phoenix and Didon shortly after their engagement on 10 August 1805, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe

While sailing to Gibraltar with his prize in tow, Baker fell in with the 74-gun HMS Dragon on 14 August.[13][16] The following day the combined fleet under Villeneuve, heading for Brest and then on to Boulogne to escort the French invasion forces across the Channel sighted the three British ships. Villeneuve mistook the British ships for scouts from the Channel Fleet and fled south to avoid an action.[13][17][18] A furious Napoleon raged 'What a Navy! What an admiral! All those sacrifices for nought!'[17] Villeneuve's failure to press north was a decisive point of the Trafalgar Campaign as far as the invasion of England went, for abandoning all hope of fulfilling his plans to secure control of the Channel Napoleon gathered the Armée d'Angleterre, now renamed the Grand Armée, and headed east to attack the Austrians in the Ulm Campaign.[17][19] The British ships altered their course and made for Plymouth, where they arrived on 3 September, having prevented an attempt by their French prisoners to capture the Phoenix and retake the Didon.[20]

Channel

Although Phoenix had missed the battle of Trafalgar, she saw action in November 1805. Baker was under orders to patrol west of the Isles of Scilly when meeting some merchantmen he received intelligence that they had seen a small squadron of presumably French ships of the line in the Bay of Biscay. The British were looking for the celebrated Rochefort squadron of five sail of the line, three frigates, and two brigs, under Rear-admiral Zacharie Allemand, which was loose somewhere in the Atlantic (the Allemand's expedition of 1805). Baker decide to investigate.

On 2 November 1805, Phoenix, discovered the Rochefort squadron under Rear Admiral Dumanoir, consisting of four French ships of the line that had escaped Trafalgar. Phoenix sailed in search of Sir Robert Strachan's squadron to report the find, who, as it happened, was fairly close by. During the ensuing Battle of Cape Ortegal, Phoenix and the other British frigates harassed the French rear. While doing so, she helped to capture the French ship Scipion, which was then commissioned into the Royal Navy. During the action Phoenix lost two men killed and four wounded.[21] Serving aboard Phoenix at this time, as First lieutenant was Samuel Brown, later to become a distinguished engineer and reach the rank of captain.

In December 1805, Captain Zachary Mudge took command of Phoenix. On 17 Jan 1808 off Rochefort, she observed a French squadron, under Admiral Ganteaume putting to sea. Phoenix despatched the 18-gun brig-sloop Raleigh to England with the information and sailed in search of the watching squadron under Strachan, which bad weather had driven out to sea. Not finding Strachan, Phoenix too sailed for England, having informed the gun-brigAttack of the news. Attack found Strachan on 23 January, but bad weather and other difficulties delayed Strachan and he was unable to intercept the French before they reached Toulon.[22]

In March 1809 Phoenix received some 32-pounder carronades.

On 28 Jan 1810 Phoenix, with the ship-sloop Jalouse, chased the 14-gun French privateer Charles, but lost her in thick fog. The next day Phoenix discovered Charles anchored close under the French coast. A cutting out expedition then went in in boats. The Charles resisted, killing one seaman and wounding another. Still, the expedition succeeded in taking the vessel, where they found two English masters and 13 seamen who had been taken out of vessels a few days previously.

Fate

Between 1810 and September 1814, Captains James Bowen and then William Webley commanded Phoenix. Bowen took her to the East Indies in May 1810.

From 14 September, 1814, her last captain was Charles Austen, brother of the novelist Jane Austen. Phoenix was lost in a storm off Smyrna (Izmir) on 20 February, 1816, due to the ignorance of her pilots when a sudden change of wind threw her on the shore.

Fortunately, all aboard her survived; the vessel was so close to the shore that her fallen top-gallant mast reached from the wreck to the shore. Also, Renard helped save her crew.[23]

Austen was able to procure a storehouse for the crew where they were provided with fires, bread and wine. Mr. Curotavich of Chisme took in Austen and his officers, supplying them with clothes, food, and beds.[24]

On 2 March the British burnt Phoenix to the water's edge to get her copper bolts.[23] They then sold the remains to Mr. Curotavich for ₤600. A court martial absolved Austen of blame.

References

Notes

The earliest example of the use of HMS as an abbreviation is a reference to HMS Phoenix in 1789.[25]

  1. ↑ James (1837), Vol 1, 118-9.
  2. ↑ United Service Magazine (1841), 380.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 James. The naval history of Great Britain. 1. p. 363. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Allen (1852), 428
  5. ↑ Allen (1852),428
  6. ↑ James (1837), Vol 1, 292 and 327.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Allen (1852),428.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Winfield. British Warships of the Age of Sail 1794–1817. p. 130. 
  9. ↑ Gossett (1986), p.27.
  10. ↑ Urban (1849), 648.
  11. ↑ James (1837), 138.
  12. ↑ Tracy (2006), 20.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Tracy (2006), 20
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 James. The Naval History of Great Britain. p. 164. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 James. The Naval History of Great Britain. pp. 168–9. 
  16. ↑ James. The Naval History of Great Britain. pp. 170. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Adkin. The Trafalgar Companion. p. 57. 
  18. ↑ Mostert. The Line Upon the Wind. p. 470. 
  19. ↑ Mostert. The Line Upon the Wind. p. 471. 
  20. ↑ James. The Naval History of Great Britain. pp. 171. 
  21. ↑ James (1837) Vol 4, 103-106.
  22. ↑ James (1837), Vol 5, 3.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Gossett (1986), p.97.
  24. ↑ Charles Austen's log-book entry, quoted in Grosvenor Myer (1997), 223.
  25. ↑ "HMS", The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2006, Encyclopedia.com. (September 16, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-HMS.html.

Online

Print

  • Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy. 1. Henry G. Bohn. 
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475. 
  • Gossett, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. ISBN 0-7201-1816-6. 
  • Grosvenor Myer, Valerie (1997) Jane Austen: obstinate heart: a biography. (New York: Arcade). ISBN 978-1-55970-387-1
  • James, William (1837) Naval History of Great Britain 1793 - 1827. (London).
  • Tracy, Nicholas (2006). Who's who in Nelson's Navy: 200 Naval Heroes. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-244-5. 
  • The United Service Magazine. 2. H. Colburn. 1841. 
  • Urban, Sylvanus (1849) The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol.XXXI January to June. (London: John Bowyer Nichols and Sons)
  • Winfield, Rif (2007) British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 - 1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008) British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2nd edition. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.
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